Thursday, October 16, 2008

The Vanishing Commercial

I thought I would start this blog to discuss the advertising industry, and how it has been evolving in recent years. Working at a Boston Advertising Agency I get an inside view into the industry that most do not have, so I thought I would use this opportunity to share some of my thoughts.

The turn of the millennium saw many changes in the progress of technology. Digital Video Recorders began to become present in homes all over the country, changing the entire advertising industry as we once knew it. The most well known of these is undoubtedly TiVo. DVRs digitally record television shows and then play them back like a DVD recording. The viewer can fast forward, rewind, and play a show in slow motion. With the increase in people’s hectic schedules and the decrease in the average person’s attention span, DVR has become a cultural phenomenon, allowing people to record their favorite TV shows and watch them when they choose. To the consumer this is a great idea, but to advertisers, businesses, and companies everywhere it means that all their efforts that have gone into commercial advertising are quickly becoming obsolete.

Prior to these developments, fast forwarding through commercials was only a dream to frequent TV watchers. Then DVR technology made it possible. What resulted is a drastic increase in difficulty when it comes to advertising campaigns reaching their audiences. New techniques such as video and computer game advertising have started to emerge due to this decline in traditional TV advertising, and have been extremely effective. Mobile Marketing is another form of advertising that has been gaining great popularity, as it is so directly targeted and effective.

Many other new and fascinating forms of advertising have taken form as a result of the changing industry, and are changing Boston Advertising Agencies for good. I will take the time to discuss them further in later posts. Thanks for stopping by!

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